Emily Grise

University of Alberta | UAlberta · School of Urban and Regional Planning

This study relies on an experimental design framework to identify the behavioral nudges and incentives that can facilitate altruism for a transportation-related cause of the members of a university community. Our findings reveal the overall willingness to support transportation options for low-income community members either through financial contr...

As cities across the world embrace the benefits of rapid transit technology and invest in the expansion of existing infrastructure or plan for the introduction of new lines, the differences in both benefits and externalities that bus rapid transit (BRT) and rail rapid transit (RRT) bring remain unclear. This study aimed to address that gap and unde...

There is a lack of agreement regarding the theoretical framework that practitioners should use for accessibility assessment – a measure of transport and land-use systems performance. Cumulative measures are simple and easy to interpret, while gravity-based measures are more sophisticated, resourceful, and less intuitive approaches. As such, this st...

This study explores how shared micromobility services can integrate with public transit through equitable payment structures to address first and last mile issues for light rail transit riders in Seattle, WA, and increase accessibility for low-income households. Seattle has recently permitted shared micromobility services such as e-scooter companie...

This study analyzed a panel-based dataset to understand the effect of COVID-19 on transport behavior in Metro Vancouver, Canada, between December 2020 and May 2021. Findings from the sample indicate a decline in transit users compared to pre-pandemic levels and an increase in car use. On the other hand, we saw a shift to a more positive perception...

As cities have grown more dispersed and auto-oriented, demand for travel has become increasingly difficult to meet via public transit. Public transit ridership, particularly bus ridership, has recently been on the decline in many urban areas in Canada and the United States, and many agencies have either undergone or are planning comprehensive bus n...

This study aims to understand who and under what circumstances is more likely to travel and feel safe using public transit in Edmonton, Canada, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, by analyzing data from an online survey conducted during the summer of 2020. We provide empirical evidence that an individual better informed about the measures Edmonton Transi...

Emphasis on measuring and understanding public transport (PT) users' satisfaction is driven by research that has found that passengers who are satisfied with PT services also often report the intention and desire to use PT in the future. The relationship between overall satisfaction and long-term loyalty is not straightforward and is often indirect...

Public transport agencies implement different strategies aimed at improving the operation of transit service and to increase satisfaction among its riders. One service strategy employed by transit agencies is a limited-stop bus service that runs in parallel to a heavily used route to decrease travel times for existing riders and to reduce pressure...

Background Quantifying physical activity accumulated through daily commuting is challenging due to the scarcity of detailed data, especially for public transport trips. Using Montreal, Canada as a case study, this paper measures and compares an individual's daily amount of walking to and from public transport in their regular commute to work using...

It is hypothesized that spatially disaggregated and temporally variable data will lead to more accurate determinations of accessibility. This paper examines whether such measures are more effective in predicting public transport mode share and commute duration in Montreal, Canada through regression models. While results show that the model fit to p...

Conventional wisdom in public transport planning suggests that transfers should be minimized because of the negative perceptions associated with them. However, little is known about how transferring affects overall satisfaction levels. This study aims to answer the following three research questions: (1) Are people that require transfers on their d...

For cities wishing to foster a strong culture of cycling, developing a network of safe and efficient bicycle infrastructure is paramount, yet not a straightforward task. Once transport professionals have selected the optimal location for a new bicycle facility, determining the optimal facility type is imperative to ensure that the new infrastructur...

Improving accessibility is a goal pursued by many metropolitan regions to address a variety of objectives. Accessibility, or the ease of reaching destinations, is traditionally measured using observed travel time and has of yet not accounted for user satisfaction with these travel times. As trip satisfaction is a major component of the underlying p...

Research has shown that the way in which a question is asked or the order in which it is received can influence the answer of respondents. Surveys are frequently used by transport professionals to better understand the psychology behind travelers’ level of satisfaction and derive policies. An awareness of how survey design impacts individuals’ resp...

Public transport ridership has been steadily increasing since the early 2000s in many urban areas in North America. However, many cities have more recently seen their transit ridership plateaued, if not decreased. This trend in transit ridership has produced a lot of discussion on which factors contributed the most to this new trend. While no recen...

Promoting active modes of transportation, such as cycling, is an ongoing challenge faced by many cities around the world. Fostering a bicycle culture in an auto-dominant region is riddled with challenges, but success has been achieved with investments in bicycle infrastructure, including bicycle parking. This study presents a new methodology to ide...

Equal access to opportunities has emerged in public transport planning as a social objective that many transport agencies are trying to achieve. Yet in practice, not all public transport agencies are currently providing urban residents with comparable levels of service due to physical barriers in the public transport network that can significantly...

Many cities across the world are actively promoting cycling through investments in cycling infrastructure, yet ensuring that the benefits from these investments are distributed equally in a region and not benefiting only one group is an important social goal. The aim of this study is to develop a methodology that can help in identifying where new b...

Walking is one of the most accessible forms of physical activity for people of all ages. Promoting increased walking for transport may contribute to reduced air pollution, noise and traffic congestion. Understanding the geography of pedestrian motor vehicle collisions (PMVCs) can provide evidence to inform policy and planning that targets increased...

Public transit agencies are delivering transport services in a rapidly changing and highly competitive transportation market. Ensuring rider's satisfaction in such an environment has led several public transit agencies to adopt different marketing strategies. For example, market segmentation analyses are commonly employed by transit agencies to ide...

Transit agencies often focus on developing strategies aimed at reducing travel time to increase passengers’ satisfaction. One strategy used by transit agencies to reduce passenger activity time, and accordingly travel times, is the implementation of all-door boarding – a service allowing transit users to board and alight vehicles through any door....

Affordable and efficient urban public transport is important for the development of a sustainable urban environment. Making sure public transport users are satisfied with the service is a goal many public transport agencies are trying to achieve. Customer satisfaction surveys are often used to monitor customer perceptions of service quality and to...

The growth rate of adults older than 65 in Canada is increasing more rapidly than the population as a whole. This increase is reflective of the aging baby boomer population. That population is known to have a strong attachment to automobiles, which might be reflected in their travel behavior as they move toward different stages in their older life....

Data from automated vehicle location (AVL) systems, automatic passenger counter (APC) systems, and fare box payments have been heavily used to generate dwell time models with the goal of recommending improvements in efficiency and reliability of bus transit systems. However, automatic data collection methods may result in a loss of detail with rega...

sec> The City of Toronto, Canada experienced a ten-year high in pedestrian fatalities last year and currently has the highest pedestrian collision rate of all Canadian cities. This research aims to explore spatial patterns of pedestrian injury in Toronto, with a particular focus on age-based differences in the geography of injury and injury risk. A...